ibex cd and mathematics handbook

Yeah, finally it came!! My first cd from Ubuntu (Ibex) and the very first thing I ever bought from amazon(.co.jp), Mathematics Handbook for Science and Engineering 5th edition. Ever since Opik mentioned it when he helped me solving my homework about BER of BPSK over Rayleigh fading channel, I’ve been wanting to have it. Buat anak2 EL 02 yg sama2 lagi berjuang di negeri orang (dana, siti, didit, dll), ayo beli bukunya, siapa tau berguna

my psp

Before I decided to get a PSP, I was also thinking of buying either PS3, WII, or DS. So after a long and intense discussion with friends I decided to choose PSP for the following reasons:

1. Not PS3. Why? Because I also need to buy a plasma tv to be able to play it well, ordinary tv works also but PS3 without plasma tv seems such a waste So since plasma tv is out of my budget, PS3 is a no.
2. Not Nintendo DS. Why? First lemme tell you that NDS is very good. It has touchable screen, you can even use it as electronic dictionary, and someone even said that you can install linux in it Then why not DS?? Because for me, NDS’s screen is too small and I don’t need an electronic dictionary anymore And the games also look childish
3. Nintendo Wii. This new game console is very interesting and give a new experience of gaming. But i didn’t choose it. Not only because of the same reason as not buying PS3, but also because Wii looks fun if you play together with friends. For example, your friends visit you in your house, Wii can really cheer up the day. But if you’re alone, Wii seems boring Have you seen the wii music? OMG, if you’re alone playing it, you look like an insane guy

So, I chose PSP

Four days ago, I had a nomikai in the lab. Nomikai (飲み会) consists of two kanjis, which means drink (飲み) and meeting/event (会), so nomikai means drinking party. At that time the nomikai was held to celebrate me and several other students passing the entrance exam of master course some senpai got accepted in some japanese companies, and some other reasons that i didn’t understand cause they talked so damn fast

One interesting thing happened on that nomikai was everyone’s busy searching and thinking of kanji for my name. It was my professor who suddenly told everyone to think kanji for my name. And because of that, we spent half time of the nomikai to think of it One by one whenever they thought of something, they showed it to my professor for approval. And finally, he decided on this one:

に　 こ

仁虎

仁 means human or humanism, while 虎 means tiger. So 仁虎 means human tiger, or maybe tiger human or maybe tiger that has humanism spirit (let’s stop this,it’s getting weird) But my sensei said that it’s a good kanji, and my senpais also said it’s a cool name My professor even told me to use the kanji in any presentation I don’t know if they really mean it, or they just spoke out nonsense cause maybe they’re drunk already at that time

It’s really becoming a new phenomenon in internet world recently. You record yourself singing your favorite song from some artists or your own song will be much better, upload it to youtube, and if people like you, you’ll be famous in no time. And since this world has already been connected by internet, some music producers will for sure stumble upon your video. The rest will be clear enough, you’ll record your own songs in professional studio, make your own album, make your video clip(s), and you’ll be filthy, wealthy, rich, maybe

A very good example of that phenomenon is of course, Marie Digby. Her first album was out already, and also her first world premier video clip of Say It Again.

Another example I found is this girl, Kina Grannis (?) who also finally made her own album, I think. But I like Digby better

And somehow, my nyaw’s also affected! (well, I also did encourage her :p ) So here are her two first videos, covering Spell and Stupid for You from Marie Digby I really like the Stupid for You

So if you have confidence in your voice, no need to join singing contest, just upload it and share it to your friends

Today, November 5, 2008, can be said as a historical day for people of united states, as today, Barack Obama, become the first black man elected as the president of USA. I bet some are disappointed, but  some are celebrating for sure, maybe especially the black people in USA.

I won’t comment anything about the election, campaign, or any politics stuff, cause i’m not completely into that kind of thing, but on this not-historical-at-all-for-me day, i want to write something, so that if one day, my kids, or my grandkids, or anyone else ask me about today, I will have something to talk about

So what happened today? For me nothing special. Only woke up late, couldn’t find SMBC bank around here even after biking around for half and hour, submitted my scholarship extension form, tried a new keyboard in lab that turned out to be an uncomfortable keyboard , tried so many ways to solve the homeworks but still no good, my first job from blogvertise.com got accepted, and finally received my order from baticrom.com for the first time That’s it, nothing really special happened.

Then I’m curious about what happened in other side of the world today. So I checked several websites and here what I found.

1. detik.com. The headline’s of course the victory of Obama, who gave his daughters a puppy as celebrating gift. Not so many interesting stories today, only about the new motorcycle from Honda which is said to have European style, the president of Madagaskar said he felt like home in Indonesia, etc.
2. Planet EL02ITB, the blog aggregator of Institut Teknologi Bandung’s electrical engineering class 2002. Only uli wrote about the US election, windra went for travel to Yogya ( I want too! ), deni wrote about how dangerous imported apple and fruits, etc.
3. Planet Ubuntu Indonesia, blog aggregator for Ubuntu users in Indonesia. No news about obama at all. People just talked about Ubuntu and Linux and some IT stuffs. Note to admin of planet ubuntu id: udah beberapa hari ini postingan ku di nicokun.wordpress.com koq ga masuk ke planet ubuntu id ya???apa yang terjadi kah?
4. Planet Dosen ITB, the blog aggregator for Institut Teknologi Bandung’s lecturers. Some people wrote about Obama like rinaldmunir’s blog, azrl’s blog, and taufikurahman’s blog.
5. Linuxtoday.com. The first news is about US election, but not about politics I think, it only said that the presidential election voting machine violates ghostscript copyrights (whatever that means :p ), well good luck suing. There’s also a news about the release of Fedora 10 Preview.
   

So that’s it. Nothing really interesting happened today but Obama became the president, maybe you can add more stories?

Code Blue

It’s been a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time since the last time I finished watching a dorama series. Maybe before I came here. And since I didn’t have TV at the beginning, couldn’t watch any. Even when I had the TV finally, still couldn’t finish watching any doramas, since no subtitle on TV (yeah,my japanese ability is still not enough ) I tried to watch Change with Takuya Kimura as the main actor, but man, 全然分からない Anyway, I finally finished watching a dorama (not on TV of course ), Code Blue.

Code Blue is a dorama about young doctors who wanted to be a Doctor Heli, a doctor who gets on helicopter to give medical service to treat injured patient on site. This dorama has a very interesting casts:

• Yamashita Tomohisa as Aizawa Kousaku (Flight doctor-in-training). If you don’t know this guy, don’t claim to be dorama lover. He played in so many doramas already such as Proposal Daisakusen, Nobuta wo Produce, etc.
• Aragaki Yui as Shiraishi Megumi (Flight doctor-in-training). Again, if you don’t know this girl, don’t claim to be a dorama lover She played in Girl Circle, My Boss My Hero, etc.
• Toda Erika as Hiyama Mihoko (Flight doctor-in-training). I won’t get bored to say this, but again and again, if you don’t know this girl, don’t claim to be a dorama lover She also played in Girl Circle, Engine, etc.
• Asari Yosuke as Fujikawa Kazuo (Flight doctor-in-training). Now it’s ok if you don’t know this guy, i don’t either First time I saw him here.
• Higa Manami Saejima Haruka (Flight nurse). I think I’ve seen this girl playing in some dorama before, hmm
• Kodama Kiyoshi as Tadokoro Yoshiaki (Emergency Unit Chief, Special appearance). Never seen this old guy before, good acting though.
• Katsumura Masanobu as Morimoto Tadashi (Flight Doctor). I’ve seen this guy before, not so famous I think, isn’t he?
• Ryo as Mitsui Kanna (Flight Doctor). I remember watching her in Long Vacation, old but very nice dorama.
• Yanagiba Toshiro as Kuroda Shuji (Flight Doctor). Forgot which dorama I saw him.
• Sugimoto Tetta as Saijo Susumu (Brain Surgeon). Seen him in several doramas, but if I recall, I never watched a dorama where he became the main actor.
• Terajima Susumu as Kaji Toshi (Pilot). I remember this guy in Unfair.
• Hiwatashi Shinji (樋渡真司) as Anzai Yasuyuki. Which one is this person in the dorama?

With those awesome casts, this dorama also had a very nice story. Unlike Asada Ryutaro from Iryu Team Medical Dragon, who were a perfect, skillful surgeon, doctors in this dorama were more human, they made mistake No man-woman love story, this dorama’s about dream and passion.
Having Gakki, Yamapi, and Erika Toda in this dorama is already a good reason to watch this dorama

Colbie Caillat

After Jason Mraz concert, at the end of our first phase in Japan (will talk about this phase later ) Sept 30, we went to watch the concert of Colbie Caillat. Judging from the venue, Colbie’s concert was smaller than Jason’s. But cause of that, we could get a close spot to the stage, so we could she her clearly Though Jason’s performance was better, it was still great concert, great songs, great voice, great band Why do I keep comparing Jason’s and Colbie’s concert? Sorry, it’s just that both of them sang together in “Lucky”, and both concert were two first concerts I ever watched live

Jason singing Lucky with Japanese girl

This is one of the song I like from Colbie

This concert version of Tailor Made was so GOOD!

Videos thanks to Eng-chan

Finally, the last day of the Summer Trip 2008 series On this final day, before we’re going back to Osaka by night bus, we went to many places around Tokyo, the capital city of Japan! Just like the title of this post implies, it was really feel like Amazing Race. The night before we planed and scheduled everything thoroughly, we took note about the time, and even the train we should take to go from one place to another. But just like wise man said, life’s not always according to plan. Man may plan, but God will decide, it’s true. The second train we took that would bring us to Tokyo Station, was late. So our plans were ruined! But we tried to stick to the plan, cause we want to go all those places we had planned. So we did everything quickly, we ran to stations, we walked so fast, but of course, still so much fun

From Tokyo Eki, after we put our big bags inside coin locker, our first destination was Imperial Palace. There is this very famous bridge in Imperial Palace of Tokyo, so we hurriedly took a very handsome and beautiful pictures of ours there Done there, we rushed back to station, and headed to our next destination, Akihabara.

In Akihabara, we met with Irvan, another friend of mine who came together to Japan last April. Akihabara, just like Denden Town in Osaka, is famous of its electronic shops, pc shops, anime shops, games, and of course porn and hentai shops. Our main purpose there, was to find magic: the gathering cards. Yeah, getting addicted to it, Eng too So, after obtaining the tenth edition pack, Betrayers of Kamigawa theme deck, Scourge theme deck, and some random cards, though unfortunately we spent too much time there (too fun ), we went to our next destination, Asakusa.

From the internet, we found out that what famous in Asakusa is the Kaminari-mon (雷門 - Thunder gate ) So there we were, taking pictures in front of the gate There were so many foreigners in Asakusa at that time, including us

Done walking around, we took the train to Shibuya to go to Meiji Jingu shrine. A Big shrine in the middle of jungle in the middle of the city. It was drizzling a little, but it added up to the beauty of the nature. It was really amazing cause, they still have a natural environment in the middle of the city, something that I believe you can not find in Jakarta (or did anyone find it? ) In Meiji Jingu, I took an Omikuji, poem drawing, which was composed by either the Emperor Meiji or the Empress Shoken. There were so many poem in a piece of papers, and we took it from the box randomly. This is what I got:

“Cut, if need be, through thick briars,
Knots of brambles, tangled thorns,
For the path that’s yours to follow
Must be trodden to the end”

–Empress Shoken–

Shigeritaru ubara karatachi haraitemo

fumubeki michi wa yukubekari keri

And at the back of the paper, I found the meaning:

Never turn aside from the road that

your convictions tell you to follow,

whatever obstacles you must surmount on the way.

Be true to yourself.

A very nice meaning

Finished resting, we went back to the station to go to Tokyo Tower! A tower that’s as famous as Eiffel Tower in Paris ( is it? ), and taller than Eiffel. This red tower, which appeared so many times in many dorama, movies, animes, and mangas, really was beautiful at night We bought the ticket, and went up to the main observatory which was 150 meters high. WOW! The night view of Tokyo was astonishing! So beautiful! And the view from Special Observatory, which was 250 meters high, was even more heart moving

We’re running out of time. We needed to go to our last destination before we went back to Tokyo station to take the bus home. Next was, Odaiba! If you visit Odaiba, one thing you must do is taking pictures in front of the liberty statue! Too bad we couldn’t linger around longer, we couldn’t enjoy the beautiful view of Odaiba that much, but still we got good pictures

Running again to the stations, we succeeded getting on the train to Tokyo Eki right on time. Of all plans we had scheduled, getting on the train from odaiba to tokyo eki was the only one executed according to plan

But still, life’s not always be easy for you. We couldn’t find the bus stop in tokyo eki! Oh my God, and the clock already pointed to 10pm which was the time the bus departed. We’re panicked, but managed to find out that the bus stop was a little bit further along the way. Waaa, we ran like crazy carrying a very heavy bag on my bag and my hand,hoping that the bus was still there. Then we found the receptionist, wuiiiih, what a relief But a false alarm, the bus’s still a few blocks away Running again, and this time, we really found the bus. Thank you bus driver for still waiting for us, 本当にありがとう Putting our body on the seat inside the bus, taking our breath, and feeling great for that amazing day, the bus took us away from one of greatest journey I’ve ever experienced, back home.

Our foot prints in Tokyo

Map credit goes to Tokyo Map Japan

Summer Trip 2008, done! It’s a wrap!!!!

More pictures here

Summer Trip report’s not over yet After Yokohama trip, on day #4, we went to Tsukuba, to meet Meidy, one of my friend who came together to Japan this year. We took the Tsukuba Express, and met Sissy and Nicolas there, and of course, Meidy. The station for Tsukuba Express’s quite interesting, looks sophisticated, and the unique thing was the wireless connection for Nintendo DS. Yey, cause Eng brought hers that time, we tried it, and successfully downloaded a Dragon Ball game. Though the game was short, and it was disappeared once you turn off the DS, but still enought to spend time waiting for the train

In Tsukuba, we went up to mount Tsukuba! Not hiking nor climbing, we used the cable car to go up, and the rope way to go down. I might have a bad luck with mountains, cause when we got there,it’s foggy again, just like our trip to mount Fuji, but without being tired and miserable After that we went to Meidy’s dorm. The university, Tsukuba Daigaku, was a huge university, maybe as big or bigger than University of Indonesia. Meidy even said that half of the Tsukuba city is the university :)) Tsukuba is a very quiet city, not so many people, and peaceful (maybe ) Just like Minoh where I used to live, but without the slope

On day #5, we decided to rest in my cousin’s place and just played with Nichi

On day #6, we went to Disney Sea. Why Disney Sea? Not Disney Land? Cause we’ve been to USJ. So I presumed, Disney Land wouldn’t be much different from USJ. Disney Sea sounded more fun, sounded more water, more splashing So we arrived at this station I forgot the name, which was in big complex of Disney park, there was Disney Land, Disney Sea, and Disney Resort (where’s the Disney Air??? ) From that station we need to take the Disney monorail again to get to Disney sea. Very Disney-ish monorail

So, we took pictures here and there, tried some rides, ate popcorns, etc. So proud of Eng-chan who could take the ride of Journey to The Center of The Earth and Indiana Jones! おめでとう! My impression about Disney Sea? I agreed with one of my friend. You should not go to Universal Studios Japan first before Disney Land and Disney Sea. Yup, that’s right, USJ is more interesting. Once you’ve experienced USJ, you’ll find Disney Sea to be 普通, “ordinary”. So, a bit of advice, go to Disney Sea and Disney land first

Day #6, done! More pictures here. Wait for next and last report of Summer Trip 2008

Continuing from the previous post, on day #2 of me and eng summer trip, we didn’t go out of chiba, we just went to fasting break gathering (a.k.a buka bareng) of Indonesian community in Chiba. It was held in one of Indonesian woman’s apartment who got married with a Pakistan guy (or Bangladesh? i forgot ). A very nice apartment, I’d say, it’d be nice i had one So it wasn’t only fasting break, it was also a celebration, b’day celebration for the son of the home owner.

Eng played mini-guitar in the apartment

The b'day boy w/ family

my cousin who took us along

On the next day, we went to Yokohama! The city of harbor? So we met Sandy, Arya, and Wheni in this one station which I forget the name Anyway, Sandy and Arya guided us walking around and enjoying the beauty of Yokohoma. It was indeed a beautiful city.

First we decided to go to China Town. On our way there, we passed this very long street with stores on both side along the way. Most of them looked expensive though Then we decided to go to Harbor View Park first before China Town.

Weni, Eng, and Sandy

From the beautiful view of the harbor, we went to China Town!

China Town Gate

Walking around, we entered this very interesting museum of illusion.

Arya being eaten by the shark!

Standing on the bar

Waah, stomped by a dino!

Out of the frame!

Done with China Town, we headed to Yamashita Park. It’s a park by the bay. Very nice, cool, and relaxing. There was this Shikawa Boat floating on the sea, a street performance which was cool because the guy performing was so great. He could solve the cubic box in 30 seconds! He also did many cool stuffs like eating the fire, etc We then got on the Shikawa Boat which sailed to many places around the world years ago. They renovated, maintained it, and it still looks beautiful until now Getting tired walking around inside the boat, we laid down on the soft ground of Yamashita.

The street performer

Shikawa Boat

A couple in the park

It’s time to break our fasting, so we went to the nearest restaurant. After we’re full, we walked towards this ferries wheel we saw from the bay, quite a long journey, but we saw so many good views. The ferries wheel was apparently inside this entertainment park, called Expo Park (right, guys?) The queue for ferries wheel was sooooooooooooo long, filled with couples who wanted to enjoy a beautiful night weekend So we didn’t ride it. But there was also a roller coaster! Since Eng-chan couldn’t ride the roller coaster, the four us rode it, but thanks to Eng chan for the beautiful pictures of the park

Roller coaster went underground!

The ferries wheel

It was late at night already, we were tired, so we decided to end it. It was a great day, Yokohama was a great city, Arya, Sandy, Weni, you’re all were a great companion, thanx a lot! Eng-chan, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did みなさん、お疲れさまでした

More pictures here.